Stories for May 20, 2013

A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph.

War, deception and art come together in this astonishing true story of American G.I.s who tricked the enemy with rubber tanks, sound effects and carefully crafted illusions during WWII. This remarkable tale of a top-secret mission that was at once absurd, deadly and amazingly effective is told through the stories of the veterans, many of whom — like Bill Blass and Ellsworth Kelly — would go on to have illustrious careers in art, design and fashion.

Opponents of expanding background checks for gun sales often raise the fear that it would allow the government to create a national gun registry -- a database of gun transactions. In fact, federal law already bans the creation of such a registry. And the reality of how gun sales records are accessed turns out to be surprisingly low-tech.

When movie stars become unbankable, they're no longer a slam dunk at the box office. When investments become unbankable, they're relegated to the Wall Street's junk pile. For ordinary Americans deemed unbankable -- those who don't have a traditional checking or savings account -- it can be hard to simply pay bills.

A state capitol that Thomas Jefferson designed to resemble a Roman temple, the home of Henry Ford’s first assembly line, the first indoor regional shopping mall, an airport with a swooping concrete roof that seems to float on air — these are among the buildings surveyed in this cross-country journey to 10 influential works of American architecture. Meet the daring architects who imagined them and learn the shocking, funny and even sad stories of how they came to be.

The Internal Revenue Service is under fire for improperly singling out some conservative groups for extra scrutiny -- putting them through months (or longer) of questions that delayed or derailed the organizations' requests for tax-exempt status.

Maribel Ramos had served in the Army for eight years and was just weeks away from earning her degree at Cal State Fullerton when she went missing earlier this month. Her body was discovered late last week, and now her roommate has been arrested for her murder.

Public opinion on climate change may still be divided but a new survey finds climate experts agree on the cause. They point to humans as the problem behind global warming. That validates research done nearly a decade ago by a University of California, San Diego professor who says the science has always backed up the effects of climate change.

The San Diego-Tijuana region will soon have its first binational youth orchestra. Heightened border security and concerns about violence in Mexico can complicate such initiatives, but organizers say it’s worth the effort.

In her new book, "Stung," researcher Lisa-ann Gershwin Ph.D., compares jellyfish to an angel of death whose presence in the ocean is causing destruction, death and disruption. And she says humans are contributing to the problem.

Two Navy dolphins trained to search for underwater explosives made a surprising discovery off the coast of Coronado. Using their keen dolphin sonar, "Ten" and "Spetz" found an extremely rare 19th century Howell torpedo.

Join co-hosts Joe Mantegna (“Criminal Minds”) and Gary Sinise (“CSI: New York”) for a night of remembrance featuring an all-star line-up performing with the National Symphony Orchestra. The 24th annual broadcast of the "National Memorial Day Concert" airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol before a concert audience of hundreds of thousands, millions more at home, and to our troops around the world on the American Forces Network.

Poverty has grown everywhere in the U.S. in recent years, but mostly in the suburbs. During the 2000s, it grew twice as fast in suburban areas as in cities, with more than 16 million poor people now living in the nation's suburbs — more than in urban or rural areas.

The sounds of gunfire will ring out today at Abraxas High School in Poway as sheriff's deputies, firefighters, school officials and teenage volunteers conduct a drill designed to simulate a school shooting.

MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) -- Just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, stands a dormitory-style shelter filled with people recently deported from the U.S. and other migrants waiting to cross the border.

Poverty has grown everywhere in the U.S. in recent years, but mostly in the suburbs. During the 2000s, it grew twice as fast in suburban areas as in cities, with more than 16 million poor people now living in the nation's suburbs -- more than in urban or rural areas.

The phrase "second term curse" is so familiar that it's become a cliche of American politics. Whether it's President Richard Nixon's resignation or President Bill Clinton's impeachment, presidents tend to have a tough time during the back half of an eight-year presidency.

By all the laws of anything, Winston Chen should not have quit his well-paying, midcareer job at a software company at age 40. But one day he was watching a TED Talk, one of those popular online video presentations, delivered by a New York designer.